An interesting study from the Journal of Nutrition showed that adolescent girls with lower vitamin D levels did not grow as tall as their classmates.

The study looked at people from Turkey where it is common for young girls to wear concealing clothing for religious reasons. The girls who wore the concealing clothing were not as tall as their less covered classmates. Vitamin D levels were checked among both groups and it was found the girls who had grown taller had higher levels of vitamin D. It appears the girls who had plenty of vitamin D had height increases while the vitamin D deficient girls may benefit from extra vitamin D from a height supplement.

The authors conclude “we speculate that a longterm effect of vitamin D deficiency may be short stature. It is possible that the bone mineral content or bone mineral density is maintained during vitamin D deficiency in these girls at the expense of height, and the main effect of poor vitamin D status is stunting in these girls.”